Thin, flash-based MacBook on the way?

[Boyd Ostroff]

http://bigtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com...pple-flash-mac

This comment is interesting:

Yes, flash storage helps a laptop to do cool tricks like slim down, boot up faster and extend battery life. But there are tradeoffs too. For instance, flash handles data differently than a hard drives does, so software workarounds are needed for heavy-duty tasks like video editing. Marketing VP Greg Joswiak mentioned the storage performance issue to me during an Apple event this past summer, which suggests that the company is weighing the pros and cons.

I wonder what the issues are? I assumed that flash memory would be faster than a disk, especially the little laptop drives.

Doherty also pointed out that because Apple controls both its hardware and its operating system, it could probably squeeze better performance out of a flash-based Mac than competitors would get out of Windows laptops. And it could be slimmer and more durable; a flash-based laptop would run significantly cooler than a machine with a hard drive, so engineers would not have to worry as much about adding design elements to help dissipate heat.

[Paulo Teixeira]

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles..._platform.html

[Boyd Ostroff]

Very interesting article - thanks. How about the screen on that Moorestown prototype also? Great for showing off your Cinerama projects, with room to spare on the sides too. Very cool.

And where do they come up with all those names? Crofton, Silverthorne, Menlow, Moorestown... :-)

[Robert Adams]

There was an early ultra-portable Sony Vaio (we bought ours in about 2000) that had both CD drive and floppy drive as stand-alone units, running into USB ports. Maybe that's how Apple will deal with the slimming-down issue.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Just to close out this thread..... http://www.apple.com/macbookair/

[Cameron Naghibi]

Originally Posted by Richard Alvarez

I can see how eliminating a hard drive would allow you to thin it some more, but if you'e still loading/burning cd/dvd discs... aren't you back to basically the same thickness? Arent disc drives as thick as a hard drive? Or is this notebook NOT going to have disc drives at all?

exturnal dvd/cd burner, or, like the macbook air, an app that takes control of another PC that has a burner and use it like its own

[Boyd Ostroff]

Hi Cameron. Did you notice you were responding to a post from last December, before the MacBook Air was released? By now I think most of us are familiar with it... they even have them (and accessories like the DVD drive) at your local Best Buy.